Race 10 - Sunday October 3 : Road Race - Elite Men, 265.5km

Hat-trick for Freire in Verona

Zabel slapped down again; Italy saves face with Paolini's bronze

After a hard-fought battle in Verona, Spaniard Oscar Freire Gomez took his
third Elite World Championship title on Corso Porta Nuova in Verona. With his
third world title in five years, Freire joins an elite club of now only four
riders who have won three World Road Championships: Alfredo Binda (1927-30-32),
Rik Van Steenbergen (1949-56-57) and Eddy Merckx (1967-71-74).Verona was the
scene of the crime for Freire five years ago when he was the unknown and surprise
winner in the previous Verona World's, but today, there was no doubt that Freire
was simply the best man in the race. The 28 year-old speed merchant from Torrelavega
had impeccable support from his Spanish Armada today; they were a totally focused
and extremely strong team that placed five men in the final selection to support
Freire. A perfect leadout from teammate Alejandro Valverde set the table for
Oscar's winning sprint charge that held off challengers Erik Zabel and Luca
Paolini.

Of his hat-trick Sunday, Freire explained post race that, "I think my best
(World's) win was still my first World Championships in Verona five years ago.
This one is the second best...it's great to race the World Championships here
in Italy because all the tifosi really understand cycling. The race went
really well for the Spanish team; we were always in front and I think Italy
raced well too. But in the end, Spain had some luck. Bettini had that wheel
change at a bad time...Our secret on the Spanish team is that we ride together.
A guy like Valverde could have won today, but he rode an exceptional sprint
for me. I asked him to help me in the final and I have to dedicate this win
not only to the Spanish team but to Valverde too."

Runner-up to Freire for the silver medal was German Erik Zabel. Still riding
strongly at 34, Zabel broke into tears after he crossed the finish line today
when he realised he had been beaten for the second time this season in Italy
by Freire. Just over six months ago, Freire just nipped Zabel at the line in
Milano-Sanremo, denying him a fifth La Primavera title, but today, the Spaniard
came off teammate Valverde's wheel to clearly best the German. Although he was
emotionally disappointed after he crossed the finish line, Zabel bucked up in
time for the press conference, where he declared that "Yeah, I was disappointed
with second, but now I'm happy about it."

Italian Luca Paolini was the bronze medal winner ahead of the two Australians
in the front group, Stuart O'Grady (4th) and Alby Davis (5th). Two out of the
top five could be considered a good result for the land Down Under, but there
were mitigating circumstances that likely kept Davis off the podium. The overhead
replay of the sprint shows that Davis was coming by Paolini on his left, fast
enough to take at least a bronze medal, when the Italian aggressively elbowed
him and intentionally impeded the Australian's progress. This denied Davis at
least a bronze medal, but the officials didn't relegate Paolini despite what
looked to be a breach of the rules. After the World's, a visibly upset Davis
told Cyclingnews that, "It [the Paolini elbow] was clear, I thought...if
you look at it on TV, it's clear that I could have gotten at least third, but
that's bike racing."

A typically ebullient Chris Horner (8th) explained to Cyclingnews in
Verona after the tough 265km race that, "I feel great. It's just that my legs
were cramping because I haven't raced...I've only done one race (T-Mobile International)
in seven weeks." Horner explained the race strategy that saw him make all the
key selections today, saying, "I stayed at the back all day until nine laps
to go (halfway point) and then I moved up. The guys on the team were great;
they really looked after me today. Then it was just a matter of holding the
wheels going up the climbs."

As opposed to last year's Worlds in Hamilton, where Horner was the strongest
American but didn't have a clearly defined role, this year was different. USA
Cycling team manager in Verona and Horner's former director on Team Saturn Tom
Schuler told Horner that, "I was one of the leaders of the team, so I didn't
have to do anything but make the final move."

In the final sprint, Horner ended up eighth, for the best Worlds finish by
an U.S. rider since 1999 when Chann McRae was fifth in Verona. "I was on Freire's
wheel coming out of the last corner (with 600m to go) and he started to do the
typical sprinter stuff, swerving this way and that way," explained Horner. "My
(54x11) started skipping and I had it spun out pretty good. I probably needed
another bigger gear."

After a promising Worlds last year in Hamilton, today's race was total confirmation
for the soon to be 33 year old who calls Bend, Oregon home. "Today is a fantastic
result for me; I wanted top five, but I'll take eighth. Last year in Hamilton,
I had better legs, though - I felt much better the whole race. But it's good
to come back to the World Championship and show I can ride at a world class
level and I'm looking forward to next year."

Now in the prime of his cycling career, Horner is likely to sign a contract
with Saunier Duval-Prodir for 2005; the freckle-face rider told Cyclingnews
that "I've been trying to get on a Division One team again for a long time and
finally Gianetti (Horner's former Francaise de Jeux teammate Mauro Gianetti,
now Saunier Duval-Prodir manager) offered me a contract."

Italian CT Franco Ballerini's race strategy went into tilt halfway when Paolo
Bettini hurt his knee after banging it on the team car door when he got a front
wheel change. The Squadra Azzurra then rode for local man and '04 Giro winner
Damiano Cunego, but the Italian was just behind Horner in ninth. Cunego explained
after the race that, "Maybe we should have gone harder earlier on to get rid
of some of the sprinters, but the race just went the way it went...for Italy,
when we lost our leader Bettini, unfortunately that changed our plans and the
race took on another face. Spain started to work for Freire and even though
Ivan (Basso) and I tried, we just couldn't make a difference."

Cunego's teammate, Italian Champion Cristian Moreni, who finished in the main
chase group of 40, 4'26 behind Freire, told Cyclingnews that, "Even third
place is a good result for Italy. We tried to deal with the situation after
Bettini hurt his knee and be up there with the best riders at the end. We knew
that Freire and Zabel would be the most dangerous and in the end, we showed
we were up there."

How it unfolded

There was a big red sun bathing the Verona hills as another hazy fall day
dawned Sunday, but it wasn't just any day - it was the 265.5km Elite Men's Road
Race World Championships. The first attack of the day was on the first ascent
of the Torricelle climb when Frenchman Christophe Le Mevel showed his panache
and courage by going away from the group. Since he was the only one foolish
enough to give it a go so early, the other riders let him go and he gained time
even though he almost crashed on his second descent. Brazilian sprinter Luca
Pagliarini went away solo in pursuit of Le Mevel before Russian rider Vladimir
Efimkin bridged to Pagliarini, then up to the Frenchman, leaving the Brazilian
behind. Efimkin rides for Italian Elite team Pragma ADV and is known as a good
climber.

The Franco-Russian duo kept increasing its lead and my mid-race after nine
laps, they had a gap of over 7'00, but things began to change in the World Championships.
Spain's Eladio Jimenez went away from the group and this provoked various counter-attacks.
Finally, Italian Luca Mazzanti made his move and a big split of 30 riders happened
off the front, including five Spanish riders (Horrillo, Jimenez, Zaballa, Luis
Perez, Nozal), four Italians (Mazzanti, Frigo, Petito, Pellizotti), three Americans
(Baldwin, McCartney, Trenti), plus Pugaci, Popovych, Calzati, Fothen, Subido,
Vitorino, Moerenhout, Van Summeren, Van Goolen, Duque, Ardila, Scott Davis,
Fofonov and Vainsteins.

With seven laps to go, the duo were still ahead of the big chase group, but
they were just 0'20 behind and closing. The front riders sat up and let the
chase catch them after 165km, while the peloton, led by Italy's Nardello, was
1'40 behind. But this group was just too big and dangerous to last and the Italian
team made the big effort to bring the break back and the junction was made towards
the end of lap 12. Italian captain Paolo Bettini was having problems: he had
two front wheel changes and his right knee began hurting as he cracked it hard
on the open car door. Four riders from the Squadra Azzurra were with Bettini,
leaving the front of the race open to attacks. Inevitably, there was an attack
and it was by Swiss rider Steve Zampieri, who was joined by young French rider
Calzati.

With 12 laps raced, six laps and 90 km to go, there were now five riders in
front: Dane Frank Hřj had bridged across to Zampieri and Calzati, as well as
Huzarski (Pol) and Moerenhout (Ned). Meanwhile, the drama of Paolo Bettini continued
as the Olympic champion continued to hang on the back of the peloton. His knee
continued to ache and he seemed to be in considerable pain.

After five hours and 191km of racing, the front five had established 0'50
on Ukrainian chaser Kostyuk, with T-Mobile winner, Canadian Charles Dionne trying
to bridge at 2'20 and the peloton at 2'50. With 65km to go, Bettini was just
hanging on at the back up the Torricelle, talking with Italian coach Ballerini.
At the summit of the Torricelle, the chase pace had increased under the impulsion
of Spain and the gap between the break and the peloton was now down to 2'05,
with Kostyuk caught in between. Dionne had been reeled in as the group had upped
the pace. As the crucial last phase began, with four laps to go, the breakaway
was 1'35 ahead of Kostyuk, with Italian Roberto Petito on the front of the peloton
at 2'10. The first victim of the Squadra Azzurra's speed was Kostyuk, who was
caught at the base of the Torricelle and then it was Paolo Bettini's turn, as
the Olympic gold medalist dropped off on the pace and was on his way to abandoning
at the team box.

As Daniele Nardello pounded away on the front, it was clear that Italy's strategy
had changed. With Bettini out of the action, Ballerini had decided to bet the
farm on local lad Damiano Cunego. The surprise winner of the 2004 Giro d'Italia
winner, who was Junior World Champ in Verona five years ago was now the main
man for the Squadra Azzurra. With three laps to go, the riders had raced 221km
and the break of five had a gap of only 1'05". The average speed was a slow
37.55 km/h and Neil Stephens, Australian team manager realized that this was
the time to put his men on the front as they joined the Italians and Spanish
on the front. Zampieri attacked the rest of the break and only Moerenhout could
get across. The rest of the break was reeled in with Mick Rogers pounding away
on the front. After sixteen times up the Torricelle, at the summit Zampieri
and Moerenhout had been caught.

The battle between Italy and Spain began to heat up. The Iberians wanted to
try and keep things together for sprinters Freire and Valverde, so Swiss rider
Patrick Calcagni decided to take advantage of the situation by counter-attacking.
He got a good gap on the descent and at the base of the twisty downhill back
into Verona, Calcagni had a gap of 0'20 at the team boxes as the peloton took
its feed. The heat, humidity and distance had taken its toll as there were now
60 riders left in the main group.

As the penultimate lap started, Calcagni was riding hard alone in the lead.
Three Spanish riders were on the front chasing 0'25 behind. After 236 km raced,
with 29 km still to go, the average speed was a slow 37.60 km/h. Italian Stefano
Garzelli stopped in the pits after 238km, as the Spanish then put three men
on the front in pursuit of Calcagni. The Swiss rider was caught 1km into the
penultimate climb of Torricelle. Luis Perez (Spa) was riding hard tempo and
then Bertagnolli made a hard attack that split the group in two. Perez continued
his action until the last kilometre of the climb when Ivan Basso attacked hard
in a huge gear and gapped the front group. This was the key move of the race
so far and Basso kept going hard over the top. Dutchman Michael Boogerd got
across to Basso, but with the strong Spanish team determined to keep the race
together, their move was doomed.

Six Spanish riders were on the front the remaining group of 25 riders, including
Perez, Serrano, Mancebo, Freire, Valverde and Nozal, but last year's World Champ
Astarloa didn't make the split. Zabel, Kessler, Hondo and Wesemann were there
for Germany, as well as Aussie O'Grady, Kazakhstan's Alex Vinokourov, Italians
Cunego, Basso, Bertagnolli, Paolini and Frigo, American Chris Horner, Luxembourger
Frank Schleck, Dutchmen Michael Boogerd and Karsten Kroon, Dane Michael Rasmussen
and Colombians Mauricio Ardila and Ivan Parra Pinto.

As the final lap started, the red and yellow jerseys of Spain were lined out
on the front. The 17th lap had been ridden at 42 km/h - by far the fastest yet
- and it was clear that no-one was going to rejoin the front group. Michael
"Chicken" Rasmussen decided to attack and he flew the coop halfway up the final
ascent of Torricelle. Spain sent Serrano to chase down the lanky Danish rider
as suddenly Boogerd countered and caught and passed Rasmussen. Freire got across
and it looked like the winning break in this year's Elite World Championship
had formed.

Over the top of the Torricelle for the final time, Basso and Cunego were there
for Italy, with Freire and Valverde for Spain, and Boogerd and O'Grady. Vinokourov
was chasing with Rasmussen, but halfway down the descent, most of the rest of
the original group had caught back on, including the Germans with Zabel, Hondo
and Wesemann, the four other Spaniards, Vinokourov, Horner, Schleck, Davis and
Paolini. Wesemann went to the front and began to wind up the pace to prevent
attacks for his sprinters Zabel and Hondo. Vino made a tentative move with 1.5km
to go, but his move was covered immediately and it was all together under the
1 km flamme rouge. Danilo Hondo (Ger) hit out early but his leadout for Zabel
was lost, as Zabel was glued to Freire's wheel. Valverde then wound it up for
Freire, who exploded off his teammate's wheel with 100m to race to win his third
rainbow jersey in five years.